“It is usual to censure Burnet as a singularly inaccurate historian; but I believe the charge to be altogether unjust.  He appears to be singularly inaccurate only because his narrative has been subjected to a scrutiny singularly severe and unfriendly.  If any Whig thought it worth while to subject Reresby’s Memoirs, North’s Examen, Mulgrave’s Account of the Revolution, or the Life of James the Second, edited by Clarke, to a similar scrutiny, it would soon appear that Burnet was far indeed from being the most inexact writer of his time.”—­Macaulay, Hist.  England, vol. ii. p.177, 3rd.  Ed.

T.
Bath.

* * * * *

QUERIES

SAINT THOMAS OF LANCASTER.

Sir,—­I am desirous of information respecting the religious veneration paid to the memory of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, cousin-german to King Edward the Second.  He was taken in open rebellion against the King on the 16th of March, 1322, condemned by a court-martial, and executed, with circumstances of great indignity, on the rising ground above the castle of Pomfret, which at the time was in his possession.  His body was probably given to the monks of the adjacent priory; and soon after his death miracles were said to be performed at his tomb, and at the place of {182} execution; a curious record of which is preserved in the library of Corpus Christi College, at Cambridge, and introduced by Brady into his history of the period.  About the same time, a picture or image of him seems to have been exhibited in St. Paul’s Church, in London, and to have been the object of many offerings.  A special proclamation was issued, denouncing this veneration of the memory of a traitor, and threatening punishment on those who encouraged it; and a statement is given by Brady of the opinions of an ecclesiastic, who thought it very doubtful how far this devotion should be encouraged by the Church, the Earl of Lancaster, besides his political offences, having been a notorious evil-liver.

As soon, however, as the King’s party was subdued, and the unhappy sovereign, whose acts and habits had excited so much animosity, cruelly put to death, we find not only the political character of the Earl of Lancaster vindicated, his attainder reversed, his estates restored to his family, and his adherents re-established in all their rights and liberties, but within five weeks of the accession of Edward the Third, a special mission was sent to the Pope from the King, imploring the appointment of a commission to institute the proper canonical investigation for his admission into the family of saints.  His character and his cause are described, in florid language, as having been those of a Christian hero; and the numberless miracles wrought in his name, and the confluence of pilgrims to his tomb, are presumed to justify his invocation.